spiritual gifts

If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it. 1 Corinthians 12:17-18

There is too much at stake to waste time making worthless comparisons and competing against gifts and for gifts we were not given by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:8). While comparisons and competitions are happening, a world is dying without Christ. For this reason, it is important to end a culture of comparisons and competitions in the body of Christ. Everyone in the body of Christ was graciously given a spiritual talent, a gift of the Holy Spirit, that He felt you should be divinely endowed with for ministry. How then do you reject something so purposefully given? How do you interrupt God’s work by not using the talent that suits you, your setting, and the season? Understand that we cripple the body when we as members of the church, the body of Christ, refuse to be the part of the body we were assigned and when we seek to exchange our part for an unintended one. It is like putting on a dress that is too small and hoping that despite the fact that it does not fit, that it will be flattering. Similarly, a talent not intended for you will not fit you no matter how hard you try to make it work. When we refuse to use our assigned gift, we undermine God’s work because the body part we represent is lacking fulfillment. Since the outcome of both making comparisons and competition in the kingdom is the weakening of God’s mission for the church, both ideas serve one master well—the enemy. The enemy’s divisive schemes disrupt unity and progress. As women, we can intercept the enemy’s plan by embracing how fearfully and wonderfully we have been made and by ending the culture of comparison and competition through stewarding the gift we have been given to serve others (1 Peter 4:10). Instead of making comparisons and competing, celebrate variety in the use of similar gifts and God’s work being fulfilled through diverse gifts. When we get back to our purpose for existing, to bring glory to God with our lives, we will then receive our gift, stir it up, and use it willingly, offering it up as an act of worship as opposed to questioning what we have been assigned and desiring what someone else has been given. How will you steward your gift and encourage others to do the same?